Building Bridges (and Furniture)
by TracyJean
Summary: Just some family time with the 'Stiltskin family as they prepare a nursery for the Rumbelle baby. Takes place sometime during season six.


_This story fulfills two prompts –_

 _\- The July "A Monthly Rumbelling" prompt on Tumblr - "Building IKEA Furniture"_

 _\- A prompt from anonymous on my Tumblr (teacupsroses) for my 200 follower promptathon – "anything to do with grandpastiltskin! I need this. Bonus points of Neal is in it!"_

 _A little background canon for the story – Neal was in the Underworld and he ended up being brought back. Henry wasn't aware of this at first and still tried to destroy magic, finding out his dad was alive when he showed up in NYC with Rumple to stop Henry and to try to save Belle and the baby. The stuff with Hyde in the finale – Snow betraying Belle and the baby and Rumple's deal – played out pretty much the same. While Rumple went to the Land of Unknown Stories to rescue Belle, Neal returned to Storybrooke to build a relationship with his son, not happy with what he has been learning about the treatment of Rumbelle by the other side of Henry's family and how that seems to have been influencing Henry's actions. Until Rumbelle returned to Storybrooke, Neal took over running the pawn shop for Rumple. Now that everyone is back home and life has more or less settled down (Hyde and the Evil Queen are gone), Neal is trying to help rebuild Henry's relationship with the other side of the family._

 _The story is in two parts. The first part is Neal and Henry. The second part with them and Rumbelle will be posted tomorrow._

* * *

 **Building Bridges (and Furniture) Chapter One – The Living Years**

"Hey, Dad."

Neal looked up from his breakfast as Henry dropped onto the bench on the other side of the table, greeting his son with a grin. "Hey, buddy. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Henry pulled off his coat and dropped it on the bench next to him as Granny came over. "I had breakfast at Mom's," he replied. "Regina's, I mean." He glanced up at Granny. "I will take some hot cocoa, though. It's cold out there."

"With cinnamon on top," Granny added with a knowing smile. "Anything else for you, Neal?"

"No, I'm good." He glanced at his watch. "I've got to get on the road." Granny nodded and moved off to get Henry's drink.

Henry paused as he was reaching for the sketchbook sitting next to Neal's right elbow on the table. "Where are you going, Dad?" His tone was slightly worried. He was not quite used to the idea that his dad was back in his life and was still afraid that he was going to wake up and find that it had all been some kind of bittersweet dream.

"To Stoughton, Massachusetts," he said in a reassuring tone, reaching over to clasp his son's hand. "Nursery furniture is a little hard to come by in Storybrooke. Geppetto's getting up there in years and unfortunately didn't think he was up to building an entire nursery and Belle told Papa she didn't want it done by magic. So she went online and ordered some furniture from IKEA. It's just outside of Boston, so it will be about a full day's trip there and back."

Henry's eyes lit up. "Can I go with you?"

Neal chuckled, his smile widening. It never ceased to thrill him that he was able to spend time with his son. He doubted that it ever would. "I don't see why not, as long as your moms both say it's okay."

Henry promptly dug through his coat for his cell phone. He was practically bouncing in his seat at the thought of going on a trip outside of Storybrooke with his dad. "I'll call them immediately. I'm sure they'll say it's okay."

* * *

With Emma and Regina's permission, the trip to Boston had turned into an overnight trip. Henry and Neal had taken some time to visit some of the tourist attractions related to the American Revolution, picking up a couple of biographies of the Founding Fathers for Belle's upcoming birthday.

By mid-morning, they were back in Storybrooke and pulling into the driveway of the Golds' Victorian. Henry was fiddling with his hands in his lap, and Neal looked at him with what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he shut off the car. Since his parents had returned to Storybrooke, their interactions with Henry had taken place on neutral territory. It was the first time that Neal had taken Henry to their home. "It'll be okay, Henry."

Henry sighed heavily, looking down at his hands. "You were there, Dad. Grandpa was angry."

Neal pondered his answer for a moment. During the past couple of months, any time he had not spent with Henry had been spent with his father, rebuilding that relationship. While he had been angry at some of the things that his father had done after his death, after spending a year sharing his father's mind and learning some of the other things that had gone on in Storybrooke, he could understand what had driven his father's actions. "He wasn't so much angry, I think, Henry, as he was disappointed."

Henry looked up at him, curiosity warring with reluctance in his brown eyes. Neal had tried multiple times to broach the subject of Henry's actions in New York, but Henry had been very hesitant to discuss the topic. He had then tried to sit down with Regina and Emma, hoping that the three of them could come together as Henry's parents and sit down with him.

 _That_ had been a disaster. Neither woman had seemed to be concerned with Belle, her baby or how much they might have been hurt by Henry's actions. No, to them his father's actions had been all about magic. Neal had wondered how things had fallen apart so badly in such a short time. He barely recognized these people – or maybe he had known them for so short a time, even Emma, that he had never really known them at all.

"You really think so?" Henry's voice sounded so small and nervous when he replied. Neal found the conflict in his heart growing. There were times he was so angry at Emma, at Regina, at how they were raising his son, that he was tempted to grab Henry and take his father up on his invitation to move as far away from Storybrooke as possible with Belle and his new sister after she was born.

Then the more rational part of his mind would interject, pointing out that Henry had spent his entire life with Regina, the past three years with Emma, and adored them both. Would he eventual grow to resent his father if he took him away from that? No matter how much he loved his son, Neal could count on his fingers the number of months he had been able to spend with his son.

Right now, the best he could do was continue to build his relationship with his son and try to act as a bridge between the generations. "I know so," he said confidently. He had discussed Henry with his father during the drive to New York and a bit more during the past few months, so he felt he could speak for Rumplestiltskin in this. "You know, you were the only tie to me that he thought he had."

Henry looked down again, a guilty look on his face. "We kinda talked about that once, when I was working in the shop, but…"

"You were spying for Regina." It was a sign of how much better things were with his father that Neal had already heard the story.

"Are you mad at me, Dad?"

The bluntness of the question surprised Neal and it took him a moment to respond. "I'm disappointed, Henry, I won't deny that. I guess I'd hoped when I was gone that you and your grandfather could help each other. I could never be mad at you, but…" He paused, carefully considering his words.

"I don't know what's going on with the rest of your family. Even back in the Enchanted Forest, when we all went back, I noticed that sometimes…well, Belle and I were grieving when Papa was gone and…it didn't feel like anyone was very considerate."

"And we still aren't. That's what you're saying, right, Dad?"

Neal turned partially in his seat so he could face his son. "Henry, I know what everyone thinks of your grandfather. I spent three hundred years thinking many of those same things myself. But none of that has anything to do with Belle or the baby. Do people think _you're_ evil just because your mother is the Evil Queen?"

Henry averted his eyes. "No, of course not."

"So can you understand why your grandfather and I would be disappointed when nearly everyone disregards Belle – or even worse, uses her – just because of her association with him? They all welcome Hook and Zelena with open arms after everything they've done, while Belle, who has never done anything but help them…"

Neal trailed off, taking several deep breaths in an effort to control the sudden surge of anger which threatened to overwhelm him. The situation with Zelena burned most of all. It had sickened him after he had returned to Storybrooke to discover that she was supposedly redeemed and was playing for "team hero" now.

He had spent a year sharing his father's mind, had felt everything he had felt. Up until the moment Emma had separated the two of them, he had endured every torture, every degradation his father had. His father had confessed to him his attempt to kill Zelena, an incident for which Neal had not blamed him one bit. For what had happened to his father, he could have cheerfully killed Zelena himself and been willing to pay almost any price for it.

 _Maybe this was a bad idea._ Right now, he was at a loss as to how to convince Henry how wrong the rest of his family was and that _they_ were the bad influence in this situation. Neal straightened out in his car seat and started to reach for the key still in the ignition. "Why don't I take you home? I'll come back and unload the furniture later."

Henry reached out and grabbed Neal's hand. "No, wait. I'm really sorry, Dad. I want to stay and help out."

Neal sighed, his emotions more under control. Maybe something good could come of this. "Okay, Henry. I just hope you realize that I'm not really the one you need to say sorry to."

* * *

 _There are no IKEA stores in Maine. The closest one is in Stoughton, MA, 17 miles outside of Boston. Bonus points to anyone who can guess why I had Neal and Henry touring Revolutionary War sites while in the area._

 _To be concluded in Part Two – Bridge Over Troubled Waters_


End file.
